1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that displays individual colors included in a color image, an image processing method and a storage medium therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a technique that employs an automatic selection tool in a graphics editing mode of an application program called Adobe Photoshop is known as a technique for selecting and changing part of the colors in a color image displayed on a personal computer.
Specifically, when a user employs the automatic selection tool and uses a pointing device to click on a specific point in a color image, only an area having a color similar to that at the clicked point is selected. Then, a color change is performed for the selected area.
However, according to this method, the range of a selected color differs greatly, depending on a permissible value. Therefore, for a color image that includes noise, it is difficult to designate a permissible range for the selection of a desired area.
As another conventional method, a color image is displayed on an image display apparatus, as are color palette data that are added to the color image, and when a user selects a color to be changed, palette data that include a color that is similar to the selected color are selected and displayed as a similar color list. Then, after a user has designated a color to be changed to, the colors displayed on the similar color list are collectively changed to the designated color.
However, this method can not be applied for a common image to which color palette data have not been added.
Further, when a user refers to color palette data to select a color, the user can not easily identify which colors are main colors and which are not main colors.